Thursday, June 25, 2015

Chatting with Author Sally Kilpatrick with Giveaway

There are some
people who I meet that make laugh, think, and strive to be even better—this is
Sally Kilpatrick. Her observations are spot—and her writing? Brilliant!So it is my great pleasure to have her on my
blog today.

Welcome Sally! So
glad you can be here!

MVF: What genre do
you write?

SK: I write southern
fiction, at least that’s my favorite description because it covers so much
ground. I could tell you there’s a little romance and a hint of inspirational,
but really the book is about, ahem, eccentric people so. . . . southern fiction!

MVF: And—you do a
phenomenal job! (Seriously you have to read this book)

MVF: Tell us about
your book (Blurb)

SK:First, the official blurb *clears throat*

From debut author Sally
Kilpatrick comes a hopeful tale of love and redemption in a quiet

Southern town
where a lost soul finds her way with the help of an unlikely circle of friends…

Life has dealt Beulah
Land a tough hand to play, least of all being named after a hymn. A teenage
pregnancy estranged her from her family, and a tragedy caused her to lose what
little faith remained. The wayward daughter of a Baptist deacon, she spends her
nights playing the piano at The Fountain, a honky-tonk located just across the
road from County Line Methodist. But when she learns that a dear friend’s dying
wish is for her to take over as the church’s piano player, she realizes it may
be time to face the music…

Beulah butts heads with
Luke Daniels, the new pastor at County Line, who is determined to cling to tradition
even though he needs to attract more congregants to the aging church. But
the choir also isn’t enthusiastic about Beulah’s contemporary take on
the old songs and refuse to perform. Undaunted, Beulah assembles a ragtag group
of patrons from The Fountain to form the Happy Hour Choir. And as the
unexpected gig helps her let go of her painful past—and accept the love she
didn’t think she deserved—she just may be able to prove to Luke that she can
toe the line between sinner and saint…

Now the unofficial short
version: fallen from grace piano player falls for a minister and has to create
a church choir out of barflies. Hilarity ensues. (You should know that I end
all of my blurbs with “hilarity ensues”—even when it doesn’t.)

MVF: I highly recommend this book!

MVF: What was the
hardest thing about writing this book, the easiest?

SK: The easiest thing
about this book was actually writing it because it’s the first book I ever
plotted. Once I’d finished plotting, it was smooth sailing. The hardest part of
this one was writing the story as I wanted it to be even though I knew it
wouldn’t be an easy sell.

MVF: I think this
was very brave—and inspiring.

MVF: Since you are
new on my blog-- I want to ask a bit about how you became a writer and your
process.

MVF: When did you
start writing seriously? Why?

SK: I started writing
seriously immediately after graduating from college, at least that’s when I
started writing with the express intent of publication. I loved to write and
didn’t think I knew enough about life to write a “serious” novel so I was going
to write a romance novel because. . . how hard could that be? Very, as it turns
out. I still don’t have the voice for romance. Finally, I decided to take the
Field of Dreams approach: I wrote the story begging to be written and then I
queried, trusting that the right agent and editor would eventually come along.

MVF: I so identify
with this. What I started out to write—was not where I am ending up.So glad that everything *did* fall into place
for you.

MVF: How do you
write? Pantser? Plotter? Mix?

SK: I started as a
pantser. Now I’m about 85% plotter. The other 15% is where I pants the first
part of the novel and all the little things that catch me by surprise. After
I’ve written the first 50 pages at least 3 times, then I can mostly follow a
plot and finish the first draft.

MVF: *Nods* I can
see this.

MVF: When is the
best time for you to write?

SK: In a perfect world, I think I would
write from 7pm until midnight. A “perfect” world would, however, be a lonely
world without a family, so my best writing is as soon as I get the kids on the
bus. To complicate matters further, there’s always something going on, so I
have to write when I can. I set a weekly goal and go from there.

MVF: Amazing how
life is *determined* to cause chaos.

MVF: Did this book
write fast? or take some time?

SK: This book wrote incredibly fast,
faster and easier than anything else I’ve ever written. I wrote the first draft
in about three months. Kinda sprung forth like Athena from the head of Zeus.

MVF: That’s
fabulous!

MVF: Let’s hear
more about you--

MVF: Name three
books you love

SK: Only three? Wow. Hmmm. Two books
stand out as ones that made me think, “Hey! Maybe I can write whatever kind of
story I want to write, too!” Those are the unlikely pair of gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson and
Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts. I’m
not even sure those are my favorites by each author, but they were both seminal
in my development as a writer. Another book that affected me deeply is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale
Hurston. I can’t even tell you all the ways that book has affected me.
There’s something about the blending of the vernacular with the literary that
is simply magical. Add that strong female protagonist, and I was hooked.

MVF: I love the
names of these books—I’m noting them.

MVF: Name three movies
you love

SK: Again, just three? Um. I have watched
Clue about a million times. I
consider the first Pirates of the
Caribbean and the first Avengers
to be among the most perfect adventure movies ever. I also have a thing for the
animation, especially Beauty and the Beast
and The Princess and the Frog.

MVF: Oooh!
Avengers—I’m with you! And I love Beauty and the Beast….

MVF: Favorite
beverage

SK: Coffee in the am and a nice red blend
wine in the pm. Water? Always.

MVF: Coffee. YES!

MVF: What advice would you give a new writer?

SK: Step one: Cut a hole in a box…no, wait, wrong
advice. First, finish the book. You can’t fix what you haven’t finished.

Step two: Find good critique partners and get
feedback. Let the manuscript breathe and then redraft until the story’s smooth.

Step three: Focus on the things you can
control, like how many words/pages you write each day. Don’t make goals out of
things you can’t control, e.g. I’ll be published by the time I’m 30.

MVF: I like these—very clear, and to the point (especially cutting
a hole in a box, hehe)

Thank you so much for being here Sally—you are wonderful!

SK: Thanks, M.V, for having me on the blog! I really appreciate it. I’ll pick one lucky commenter to receive a $5 Starbucks certificate. Comment early and comment often.
I’ll answer almost any question—I just can’t guarantee it’ll be the right
answer.

Author Bio:

Unable to decide between literature and
writing, Sally Kilpatrick received a B.A. in both from the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville. After eight years of teaching Spanish (because that’s
what you do with an English major), she earned her MAPW from Kennesaw State
University. She has since sold three books to Kensington. The first of these, The Happy Hour Choir is out. . . now!
She serves as President of Georgia Romance Writers and lives with her
husband/trusty manservant, two precocious kids, and two mischievous cats in
Marietta, GA. You can often find her at www.sallykilpatrick.com or on Twitter under the handle @SuperWriterMom.

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About Me

I am a writer of Urban Fantasy and romance, with a love of strong coffee and cream for late night writing. I adore dark stories with anti-heros and determined heroines. I am represented by Victoria Lea from the Aponte Literary Agency.